KAN-Do!
MCCA's approach to advancing diversity can be boiled down to an awardwinning approach that we call KAN-Do! "KAN" stands for Knowledge, Access, Networks. In June 2005, MCCA's KAN-Do! strategy was recognized by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as among the best diversity programs in the nation and MCCA® was the only nonprofit association selected for the EEOC's first "Freedom to Compete" Award. MCCA's mission achievement model for diversity focuses on meeting our stakeholders' needs:
- Knowledge. Through our research and education efforts, MCCA focuses on increasing knowledge of diversity issues and it's our goal for this organization to be a trusted knowledge center on diversity issues for the entire legal profession.
- Access. MCCA's diversity best practices and programs, such as the CLE Expo and "Hot Jobs" emails are designed to provide greater access to opportunities for diverse lawyers.
- Networks. MCCA takes pride in the fact that our guests consistently rate our events so highly for the networking that we offer. It's our goal to offer people who are committed to advancing diversity a variety of great ways to connect with one another and to build a network through MCCA participation.
During 2005, MCCA also embarked on an exciting new effort to invest in the future of the legal profession though the creation of our Lloyd M. Johnson, Jr. Scholarship program (LMJ Scholarship Program). Named in honor of MCCA's founder and first executive director, the LMJ Scholarship Program offers financial and professional development support to incoming first-year law students.
The inaugural class under the LMJ Scholarship Program consists of 18 outstanding law students who were selected from a pool of more than 570 applicants. To this group of 18 students, MCCA has made a financial commitment of $380,000 in support of their law school education, and the checks were issued this fall. We believe that MCCA's financial commitment is the largest ever made by a legal association in support of a diversityfocused scholarship program. What distinguishes MCCA's program is that we believe our students need more than the knowledge provided by a law school education in order to reach their full potential as leaders in the profession. So in addition to addressing knowledge, MCCA will offer career guidance support in the form of access to opportunities, and a network of top lawyers who will take an interest in these students' professional development. It's all in line with MCCA's strategy: KAN-Do!
Congratulations to our inaugural class: Abbott Laboratories/Boeing Fellow Brenda Pacouloute, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Fellow Patricia Astorga, DOAR Litigation Support & Trial Services Fellow Samuel Roe, DuPont Company Fellow Tarik Gause, Microsoft Fellows Heidy Abreu, Joseph Franco, and Maria Jones, Pfizer Fellow Emily Liu, Sara Lee Fellow Gerron McKnight, Wal-Mart Stores Fellow Chastity Bedonie, Adorno & Yoss Scholar Andrea Arias, Baker & McKenzie Scholar Bendita Malakia, Collier Shannon & Scott Scholar Ebony Smith, Fulbright & Jaworski Scholar Martha Casillas, King & Spalding Scholar Nathan Perez, Meritas Scholar Theodore Bynum, III, Principal Financial Group Scholar Timothy Reed, and Wheeler, Trigg & Kennedy Scholar Rosario Daza.
If you would like to offer your support of this new program, please contact me at vetarichardson@mcca.com.
Veta T. Richardson
From the November/December 2005 issue of Diversity & The Bar®